I have to hand it to the Town of Minocqua, Oneida County, and the publisher of my local right-wing newspaper otherwise known as the the Lakeland Times --they have chutzpah.
They have chutzpah because they are illegally coordinating efforts in broad daylight to put my company out of business, and simply don't care if anyone catches them doing it.
On Thursday May 30th, only 1 day after Publisher Gregg Walker convinced the Oneida County Clerk of Courts to sign an order to garnish my company's and personal bank accounts in an unethical defamation lawsuit collection effort that was eventually swatted down by the 3rd District Court of Appeals, Oneida County Board Chairman Scott Holewinski sent me a letter informing me that the county zoning committee was going to shut down my tap room in Minocqua for unknown zoning violations during the heart of our lucrative tourism season.
They have chutzpah because it's apparent to anyone paying attention that this is a coordinated attack, using a useful local judge and a useful local zoning committee, to shut down my company immediately before we have a deluge of tourists that come and buy my beer.
This coordinated effort between the local government, the local newspaper, and the local judge is ENTIRELY ILLEGAL--but they simply don't care. They know that other than Gregg Walker's right-wing propaganda rag, there's no reputable media in Northern Wisconsin left to shine a light on what they're doing.
Here's the larger story that gets even more insidious when you dig into it.
If you look at the above map of our conditional use permit to build a beer garden that was approved last September, 2023, the red circle shows that part of the plan involved getting an easement from the Town of Minocqua to cross over the disputed "porkchop" from the highway onto our property.
As I've constantly said over the years, it is entirely disputable whether or not the town actually owns the porkchop or not, but regardless--getting an easement like this is a matter of course--usually a rubber stamp after a CUP has been granted.
We were sent the above contract to grant us the easement last January, but ONLY under the condition that we drop our federal lawsuit against the Town of Minocqua. Here's the direct quote from the Town's attorney offering us this quid pro quo (or extortion)
Knowing that towns can't try to extort businesses like this because they have to grant easements based on fairness alone, not as a favor if I dropped my lawsuit against them, I immediately signed the "revokable license agreement" and told them that we would not be dropping our lawsuit against them, but would be adding this attempt at illegal extortion to the lawsuit unless they gave me the easement with no strings attached.
They played chicken with us and withheld the easement. We filed for a temporary restraining order in Federal Court (Wisconsin's Western District) pleading that the judge stop any eventual enforcement action by the town and county during the summer tourism season, because without this easement we would technically be in violation of our conditional use permit and the county could then attempt to shut us down for "violations" entirely caused by the Town's failed bribery attempt.
The judge denied our motion. He basically told us that since we weren't in dire straights yet, and since the things I KNEW the town and county were going to do to me hadn't happened yet, he couldn't rule in our favor and would wait to review our case during the scheduled hearing in 2025--way too late to stop the town and county from conspiring to hurt me this summer.
When I got word that the judge refused to protect my company, I gave up.
I told my attorney to settle out of court with the town, even though I knew their actions were illegal, because I also knew that if I they shut me down this summer, I couldn't make enough money to keep fighting in court. I waved the white flag of defeat in this essay I wrote in early May, partially expecting the town, county, newspaper, and useful judge to pounce once they saw blood in the water.
And pounce they did.
The town gave me the easement, but not in time for Memorial Day Weekend, which is a huge sales weekend in this tourist town. I moved heaven and earth to get my beer garden built, but because that easement came so late, I couldn't dot all my I's and cross my T's before opening for the season. I told Fred my lawyer to expect retaliation from the county, knowing that the federal judge had failed to protect me from the inevitable.
The town's quid pro quo put me into an impossible situation--either violate the terms of my CUP or make money during the crucial Memorial Day weekend and summer month of June while we furiously worked to finish the last few requirements needed to comply with the county's CUP.
And sure enough, as pictured at the top of this email--the county sent notice that they were going to shut me down a week after Memorial Day Weekend, only a day after the rich local newspaper publisher (who regularly writes hit pieces against public officials who don't do his bidding) garnished my bank accounts.
And because trees that fall in the Northwoods of Wisconsin don't make a sound if no one is there to hear them, this story wouldn't be told by anyone in the weak Wisconsin mainstream media if I didn't tell it myself.
So here's what I'm going to do....
Not only are we going hang this 8 x 7 foot sign in front of our building that ridicules the three instigators of the attack against my company--Scott Holewinski, Mike Timmons, and Russ Fisher--I'm going to ask everyone on my 100K mailing list and 85K folks who follow us on Facebook to email the entire county board and tell them what you think of their continued harassment.
Let's remind them over 185,000 times to find something better to do with our tax dollars than try to squash the most successful business in town.
cshowalter@oneidacountywi.gov
khanus@oneidacountywi.gov
lnewman@oneidacountywi.gov
sschreier@oneidacountywi.gov
rfisher@oneidacountywi.gov
dcondado@oneidacountywi.gov
rbriggs@oneidacountywi.gov
dharris@oneidacountywi.gov
dhess@oneidacountywi.gov
rjensen@oneidacountywi.gov
mives@oneidacountywi.gov
csorgel@oneidacountywi.gov
sholewinski@oneidacountywi.gov
llopez@oneidacountywi.gov
mtimmons@oneidacountywi.gov
billyf@oneidacountywi.gov
mtautges@oneidacountywi.gov
ralmekinder@oneidacountywi.gov
cschultz@oneidacountywi.gov
And after they get all of your emails, I'm going to show up at their zoning meeting on June 20th in which they're intending to shut me down. I'm going to stair them all straight in the eyes and ask them peacefully to leave my company alone.
If they refuse to leave me alone and shut my company down once again, I'm going to sue them once again in Federal Court, and this time, I won't ever settle.
Now, the one problem I have is that my company is already using most of our resources to fend off collections from the largest defamation claim in Wisconsin's history because my insurance companies--West Bend and Society-- are suing to abandon us.
I've collectively raised $35K from you in the last two weeks to help this effort, but I simply can't rely on donations alone to fight yet another battle.
So I huddled up with my closest friends and advisors, and we figured out a strategy to try and sell more beer to raise the money to fight back. We created three different subscription packages that deliver beer to your doorstep in 44 states, including Wisconsin.
Here's what they are:
The Democrat
- Four 4-packs of progressive beer delivered to your doorstep each month for 6 months (shipping included)
- During these 6 months, you’ll receive every new release and every seasonal beer as soon as they’re made, and we’ll make sure to give you a good mix of our other offerings.
- This level is approximately the same value you’d get if you ordered four 4 packs individually each month (each 4 pack is roughly $25 with shipping)
The Liberal
- Four 4-packs of progressive beer delivered to your doorstep each month for 12 months (shipping included)
- During these 12 months, you’ll receive every new release and every seasonal beer as soon as they’re made, and we’ll make sure to give you a good mix of our other offerings.
- This subscription level provides a savings of approximately $100 compared with you buying the same amount of beer over same amount of time without the subscription
The Progressive
- Four 4-packs of progressive beer delivered to your doorstep each month for 24 months (shipping included)
- During these 12 months, you’ll receive every new release and every seasonal beer as soon as they’re made, and we’ll make sure to give you a good mix of our other offerings.
- This subscription level provides a savings of approximately $200 compared with you buying the same amount of beer over same amount of time without the subscription.
So that’s our plan to fight back:
- Bombard the County Board with emails and hopefully raise enough of a ruckus to get statewide media attention that shows them that they ONCE AGAIN are losing terribly in the court of public opinion
- Threaten them AGAIN with a Federal Lawsuit for political harassment
- Sell at ton of beer so we can back up our threats and pay our legal bills
Thanks for reading, thanks for sticking with the Minocqua Brewing Company, and thanks for helping us beat the "Three Stooges of Oneida County" by buying 16 beers a month!
Kirk Bangstad
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC